Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The city of Sioux Falls has a special place in the heartbeat of #TheStoryteller. Few areas are more prominent to our work and hearts than the Downtown Sioux Falls area. Downtown Sioux Falls has a storied history, and in the last decade the area has seen a whirlwind of change and development. The now bustling streets of DTSF might well be unrecognizable to those who lived and worked there only a few years previous.

However, along with a beautiful revitalization of the area’s arts and culture, gentrification and tragedy have also taken played their part in the area. Many of Downtown Sioux Falls’ buildings have undergone multiple renovations, and served a multitude of uses over recent years. Once local favorites like Ten Thousand Villages, Unglued, and the Copper Lounge have since been lost to the high costs of living, and the consequences of shortcuts in renovations.

One feature now missing from it’s former home on a busy corner of DTSF, is the coffee shop formerly known as Black Sheep Coffee. Black Sheep was an all time local favorite, known to locals by a mural faded by time covering the building’s side, which featured a variety of musicians and instruments and was inspired by the painting “Jazz Band” by Jean Dubuffet. The coffee shop held lots of memories for many in the city. I along with countless others encountered many a lifetime friend and lesson within those walls. The Grange Ave location of the building was torn down in 2017 to make room for a gas station, with little to no input from the building’s occupants — which along with Black Sheep, included the Lalibela Ethiopianrestaurant.

Since the building’s 2017 demolition, both restaurants have to date found new locations. Lalibela recently announced it’s new location, with plans to open in June of 2018. The current owners of Black Sheep coffee recognized and cherished the unique culture and community of the now demolished Grange Ave location, and along with their move to northern Downtown, rebranded to “The Source Roastery & Taproom”.